GOOD BY TO THE POLE 309 



always tell who built an igloo. Though they are all 

 constructed on one general principle, there are always 

 peculiarities of individual workmanship which are 

 readily recognized by these experienced children of 

 the North. 



During the first march of the day we found the 

 trail badly faulted, the ice breaking up in all direc- 

 tions under the pressure of the wind, and some of the 

 way we were on the run, the dogs jumping from one 

 piece of ice to another. During the second march we 

 saw a recent bear track, probably made by the same 

 animal whose track we had seen on the upward jour- 

 ney. All along here were numerous cracks and narrow 

 leads, but we were able to cross them without any great 

 delay. There was one lead a mile wide which had 

 formed since the upward trip, and the young ice over 

 it was now breaking up. 



Perhaps we took chances here, perhaps not. One 

 thing was in our favor: our sledges were much lighter 

 than on the upward journey, and we could now "rush" 

 them across thin ice that would not have held them a 

 moment then. In any event we got no thrill or irreg- 

 ularity of the pulse from the incident. It came as a 

 matter of course, a part of the day's work. 



As we left the camp where we had stopped for 

 lunch, a dense, black, threatening bank of clouds 

 came up from the south and we looked for a gale, but 

 the wind fell and we arrived at the next camp, where 

 Marvin had made a 700-fathom sounding and lost 

 wire and pickaxes, in calm and brilliant sunlight after 

 a march of eighteen hours. We were now approxi- 

 mately one hundred and forty-six miles from land. 



